ABOVE: Robert Majewski speaks about his daughter Ruth Majewski, as his wife Wendy Majewski right, takes comfort from Harris County Sheriff Sgt. Eric Clegg center, during a news conference held Friday by investigators with the Harris County Sheriff's office Cold Case Unit. The Majewskis' daughter, Ruth, right, was killed in 1994.

Photo: HCSO

ABOVE: Robert Majewski speaks about his daughter Ruth Majewski, as...

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Ruth Majewski

Photo: HCSO

Ruth Majewski

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ABOVE: Robert Majewski speaks about his daughter Ruth Majewski, as his wife Wendy Majewski right, takes comfort from Harris County Sheriff Sgt. Eric Clegg center, during a news conference held Friday by investigators with the Harris County Sheriff's office Cold Case Unit. The Majewskis' daughter, Ruth, right, was killed in 1994.

Photo: James Nielsen, Staff

ABOVE: Robert Majewski speaks about his daughter Ruth Majewski, as...

Image 4 of 4

ABOVE: Robert Majewski speaks about his daughter Ruth Majewski, as his wife Wendy Majewski right, takes comfort from Harris County Sheriff Sgt. Eric Clegg center, during a news conference held Friday by investigators with the Harris County Sheriff's office Cold Case Unit. The Majewskis' daughter, Ruth, right, was killed in 1994.

A Michigan man has been arrested nearly 19 years after the shooting death of his teen girlfriend in northwest Harris County.

Christopher Stoernell, 36, is charged with murder in the death of Ruth Majewski on Sept. 30, 1994, according to the Harris County Sheriff's Office.

Deputies said Stoernell, who now lives in Michigan, was charged last week and turned himself into authorities. He is free on $50,000 bond.

The shooting happened while Stoernell, Majewski and five other teens were at Stoernell's parents' house at 1039 Green Valley Drive, said Sgt. Eric Clegg with the sheriff's office. Majewski was 17.

Clegg said witnesses told investigators that Stoernell was acting recklessly with a .22 caliber pistol. He would load the gun and unload it, spin the cylinder and aim it at people, including Majewski.

Clegg said moments after Stoernell and Majewski went into a bedroom, the others heard a gunshot. Majewski was wounded in the chest. She was taken to a hospital, where she died.

Clegg said Stoernell told investigators at the time of the shooting that Majewski had shot herself. But he gave conflicting versions of what happened. Also, Clegg said, the gun had been tossed into a nearby bayou. Deputies later found it.

The case languished until the Majewski family contacted deputies in 2011 after seeing media reports about an arrest in an unrelated cold case.

Deputies looked at the Majewski case again, re-interviewing witnesses and re-examining evidence. They determined the evidence did not support Stoernell's original claim that the gunshot was self-inflicted.

The Majewski family said Stoernell and Majewski had been juniors and classmates at Jersey Village High School at the time of the incident. They said they had always felt Stoernell's version of the shooting was untrue. They had heard rumors about what happened and never gave up hope that they could find justice. Stoernell's arrest was welcomed.

"We were very happy," said Robert Majewski, "somebody had finally listened."